Chapter 209: Pleasant surprise

When the first ten names on his [Friend List] disappeared one after another, Sora immediately understood what was happening.

'As expected… someone was waiting outside.'

When the last name vanished, he let out a quiet sigh.

'They've all died…'

A dull ache settled in his chest. He could only hope they'd find their way back to him. Each of them had different instructions and knew what to do to return.

He pushed aside the thoughts and forced himself to focus.

'Time to train.'

But before that, he needed to check the system changes from the update.

Sora quickly browsed through the notifications that had caught his attention.

[New Features Unlocked: Streaming Platform Now Accessible.]

[Streaming Platform Unlocked]

Clicking on it, his system panel expanded, and dozens of video feeds appeared in front of him.

At the top, he saw a label: [World 69]. The other worlds sections were grayed out, inaccessible to him.

'Each feed is from a player on this world…'

He scrolled through the streams, searching for familiar names.

Most of the players broadcasting were unknown, their levels low. Ignoring them, he found an option to sort streams by viewer count.

At the top of the list, a familiar name and face appeared.

His chest tightened with anger.

[Abbott Nel - 12'030,042,005 viewers]

Sora clicked on the stream, and the screen expanded, revealing the Demon King floating in front of the [Goblin Village] dungeon entrance, as if waiting for something.

'So he's the one who ambushed One and the others… He sure has time to waste.'

Abbott, however, seemed completely at ease, casually engaging with his audience.

[Thank you, Kékut, for the gift.]

Sora's eyes narrowed.

'That trash is collecting [Soul Pearls] and rare items without lifting a finger…'

But more importantly, 'the whole world knows exactly where he is and what he's doing but he doesn't seem to mind.'

A bitter thought crossed his mind. 'If I streamed, would anyone even watch?'

Shaking the thought away, he opened the chat panel, scanning for useful information.

Clicking on a viewer's name, he was surprised by the details displayed.

[Kékut - Subscribed for 73 months]

[World 37 Player]

[Origin: Planet Kamen]

Sora frowned.

'The system displays the viewer's origin…? And I can even filter them by planet or origin?'

Testing it out, he searched through the list of planets.

At the very bottom, he found [Earth].

Selecting it, he was met with thousands of human viewers watching the stream.

[Kimchi Lover]: Abbottom fragger! You have a big mouth, but you let the Dark Elf do all the work! Leave our ***** kingdom if you still have some dignity!

[Korben_013]: You're trash... A level 180 demon almost wiped the floor with your face. You should thank your Dark Elf girlfriend for the help.

Sora almost laughed out loud while reading the chat. The humans were flooding the stream with hate for the Demon King.

'He has billions of viewers, though… Not sure he'll even read these messages.'

Curious, Sora scanned the viewer list for Kara's name, but didn't find it.

With a sigh, he closed the Streaming Platform.

'This could be useful to contact Kara in the future… But for now, I'll just watch.'

Dismissing the thought, he shut down his system interface.

--------------------------------------------

Sora's focused on his Soul, checking its state.

'Creating my Alter Egos vastly reduced my power… I can feel the shackles tightly limiting me again. It cost me 500,000 Soul Power to make a thousand of them after all…'

He exhaled, shaking off the frustration.

'I need to focus on increasing my Soul Level.'

The memory of being fed Soul Power by the Mother Orb flashed through his mind, and he sighed.

'It's a shame that stopped when the update ended… but I gained enough anyway.'

Without hesitation, he vanished from his spot, reappearing among the group of Alter Egos focused on Soul Power refinement.

Sitting down, he activated [Soulcraft], drawing in raw Soul Power to refine.

Immediately, the surrounding Alter Egos felt the changes in the air. Some sighed as the energy in the area thinned rapidly.

Despite their identical Talent Levels, the vast difference in Soul Level made Sora's refinement speed faster.

But then, they noticed something unusual.

The dungeon itself reacted, compensating for the lost energy, causing the Soul Power concentration to rise again.

Sora continued refining, aware the Mother Orb would fill the dungeon with the amount of Soul Power it needed.

After a while, he calculated his gains.

'At this rate… I can refine twenty thousand a day. That's two hundred times faster than when I was on the 20th floor of the Ascension Tower. Then again, I was injured back then and barely had a Soul Level of a thousand.'

Glancing around, he noticed the expectant gazes of his Alter Egos.

He addressed them, "If someone figures out a way to refine Soul Power faster, or a more efficient method, I'll reward them with [Soul Pearls]."

A voice scoffed.

Twelve sneered, crossing his arms. "What a miser… You could just give us more Soul Power, and we'd all grow faster. Right now, we're struggling with the measly five hundred we started with."

Some Alter Egos chuckled at the jab, while others looked at Sora expectantly.

Sora sighed. "If I gave everyone Soul Power, my own strength would plummet. But listen! Each of you already has limitless Talent. It shouldn't be hard for your Soul Levels to skyrocket. Trust me, when I'm strong enough, I'll share what I can."

The group murmured amongst themselves. Some sneered, others laughed, but in the end, they all returned to their training.

Sora watched them for a moment, his thoughts lingering.

'They're just messing around… They're not rebelling. Don't overthink it.'

Pushing the unease aside, he resumed his own training.

The next few days passed in a blur.

Sora dedicated himself entirely to refining Soul Power, stopping only to reward his Alter Egos whenever they achieved a breakthrough in their skills.

As he reflected on the past week, he was amazed.

Every Alter Ego had managed to multiply their Soul Levels by at least thirty times.

'Limitless Talent Level really is a game-changer…'After almost everyone had refined their technique to a solid degree, Sora stood up and faced them.

"Over the past week, all of you have improved [Soulcraft] or even created alternate skills. On the first day, your refinement speed was around 1,000 SP per day. Today, you're averaging around 4,000. That's incredible progress… With just the few of us, we've surpassed 1.5 million SP in total. Maybe it's time for the next step."

He let the words sink in before asking, "Who wants to go first?"

Twelve immediately raised his hand. "I volunteer as tribute!"

The group burst into laughter and cheers.

Sora shook his head with a smirk. 'Of course, he'd be the first to jump in.'

Ever since he'd begun interacting with this large group of Alter Egos, he'd realized that each time one was created, something shifted within them. Some were more stubborn, others sharper. A few were downright lazy. Each Alter Ego he created felt different, unique, distinct from both him and the rest.

'They all have different personalities... What an incredible skill...'

He walked toward Twelve, the most talkative of his Alter Egos, and asked, "Are you ready?"

Twelve flashed a smile. "Do it before I change my mind."

With his consent, [Alter Ego] activated. A powerful force surged through both of them, an invisible pull drawing them together.

Twelve's body flickered, turning translucent as threads of [Soul Power] stretched from him toward Sora.

The process wasn't painful, but it wasn't comfortable either. Twelve's expression twitched as his physical form slowly dissolved, transforming into pure [Soul Power] and other energy types.

Sora remained still, watching as Twelve's essence merged back into him.

Memories, experiences, insights—everything Twelve had learned over the past week flooded into Sora's mind. He absorbed the refined [Soulcraft] techniques, the efficiency tweaks, the successful experiments.

Even the jokes, the laughter, and the camaraderie shared among the group—all of it became part of him.

As the last of Twelve's [Soul Power] returned, Sora felt a slight increase in his [Soul Level].

'I gained all of his [Soul Power]… But he's gone…'

Then, something unexpected happened.

Twelve's voice echoed in his mind, carrying his usual humor.

'Don't get too sentimental. You just ate me alive, but I'm still here.'

Sora froze. 'Where exactly are you?'

'Take a look at your [Soul Palace]. Our souls have fused, but I still exist—sort of. You can either wipe me out or let me stay here. Also, I've got all your memories from the past week. We're still linked, it seems.'

Sora's mind raced as he processed the implications.

'This… is a pleasant surprise.'

He turned to the others, who had been watching with a mix of curiosity and apprehension.

"Well," he said, flexing his fingers. "That was… interesting."

Seventy-Six snorted. "Interesting? You just devoured our big brother."

Sora smirked. "He volunteered. And he's not gone... He's inside my [Soul Palace]!"

He spent a few minutes explaining the fusion's effects. The group listened in silence, absorbing his words.

Then, another voice spoke up.

"…I'll go next."

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